380 



NATIVES — HUILLI-CHE — CHONOS. 



Feb. 



are under the nominal jurisdiction of their own caciques: 

 whether they are Chonos or Huilli-che, I did not ascertain 

 clearly. Being a race who are naturally little inclined to cul- 

 tivate the soil, and preferring a comparatively idle life among 

 muscles, seal, and fish, to voluntary labour on their own 

 account, with a considerable degree of compulsory toil for the 

 Spanish Government and priests, they quitted Chiloe in suc- 

 cessive families. From them, probably, are derived the glim- 

 merings of religion, and the crosses among the Indians of Madre 

 de Dios, and other parts of the west coast of Patagonia. That 

 their canoes or rather piraguas, should be similar to those 

 of Chiloe seems natural enough ; but the fact is that the 

 Chonos people taught the Huilli-che how to make them.* 

 Coming from an inland district near Valdivia, the Huilli-che 

 had never required boats, though they knew how to cultivate 

 potatoes, maize, and beans ; how to make ' ponchos,"" and take 

 care of sheep and cattle. These, though more industrious, 

 and in some respects better members of society, are a tame and 

 docile race compared witli the Chonos, whose spirit of inde- 

 pendence has shown itself in their migration, and impatience 

 of mis-government. 



The principal population of Chiloe is now Huilli-che, no- 

 minally Christian but painfully ignorant of pure Christianity* 

 Abandoned to the crooked direction of ungodly pastors, intent 

 upon their own worldly interest instead of the welfare of their 

 flock, extorting ' primicias'-[* and tithes from poor Indians, 

 whom they scarcely see once in a year (I speak advisedly) — and 

 taught only the Romish doctrine in its worst form ; can any 

 one expect the poor Chilotes to be really religious and conse- 

 quently moral ? That they should be extremely superstitious 

 is much more probable, and such is the fact. Their's is a 

 confused demi-religion, in which a medley of ideas concerning 

 the Virgin Mary, saints, images, and witches, J is found far 



* These piraguas are extremely like the Madras surf-boats. (See 

 vol. i. p. 285, for a description of the piragua. 



t First fruits of everything, animal as well as vegetable. 

 X They are implicit believers in witchcraft. 



